The Moment Captain-Man Nearly Lost His Sidekick
by BeautifulHalfBlood
Summary: Ray Manchester is not stranger to the dangers of superhero-ing. However, out of all the ways he thought that his sidekick could be injured or killed, all of them were in battles or at the hands of a villain. None of them were at Ray's own hands via cannon ball. Introspective oneshot during Indestructible Henry


_**Author's Note:**_ Clearly, this takes place during Indestructible Henry during the cannonball scene. I'm a bit iffy on how well I wrote Ray, Henry, and Charlotte, even if all dialogue and actions were lifted from the show. I'd love some feedback though, so drop a review below please! (I'll keep the rest of the rambling to the bottom of the fic.) Enjoy!

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He found a cannon and he bought it. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was Ray and he didn't do the whole "logical" thing that comes with being an adult. Since he left the logical part to Henry and Charlotte, which was its own problem with the two being teenagers, he decided that it was awesome enough that it was a cannon, despite the impracticality of it.

Even though it was a cannon and there was no real reason that he should have bought it, he called Henry and Charlotte over to see it. The moment the two walk through the door, something told him that something is wrong. After all, you don't spend years fighting crime and being indestructible without picking up a bit of an intuition on if something is wrong. Still, he was excited and a little confused at their complete lack of excitement.

He managed to pretend that everything was fine and that they were just worried about some test or something at school, right up until Henry stammered out, "Kay, Ray, I gotta talk to you."

Charlotte, looking as unsure as Henry, added, "Yeah, he's _really_ got to talk to you."

Ray looked over at his teenage sidekick, feeling sick to his stomach at the worried and uneasy look on Henry's face. All he could think was that Henry had finally come to his senses and had realized that running around Swellview was only going to get him killed.

The thought of Henry no longer being his sidekick made him feel both relieved and terrified. On one hand, it meant that the teenager would be safe, a thought that had reared its ugly head enough times but even more after the explosion that nearly killed the teenager. On the flip side, he also didn't want to lose the kid, who'd quickly become the little brother he never had.

Trying to push off the inevitable, he asked, "Alright, well first, flip that closed sign to open, will ya?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ray walked away, trying to steel his nerves for the conversation that he was _sure_ was coming. Charlotte, poking around with the cannon, picked up a chain hanging off the end and asked curiously, "Hey, what's this chain for?"

"Uh, let me see," he replied, yanking it without a second thought. The careless action proved far more dangerous than he'd thought when the cannon launched a cannon ball across the store. Automatically, Ray grabbed Charlotte around the waist as she stumbled backwards, pulling her back away from the cannon that had just fired and down, just in case it went off again.

When the smoke cleared, he straightened up, fear shooting through him as he realized that the cannon had fired towards the front door, where Henry had been just a moment ago. The sight of the teenager lying on the ground and not moving, covered in the soot that had previously been in the cannon, made him freeze in terror. Hesitating for a moment, as if struggling to believe what had happened, he called, "Henry?"

Realization struck him hard as he pushed himself up and over the cannon, shouting, "Kid!"

Dropping to his knees next to the teenager, he felt as if he was in a strange dream as he realized that he was too late. Picking up the _stupid_ cannon ball, he nearly collapsed as he stared at it for a moment before shouting, "Stupid cannon ball! You killed my friend!"

Inside, however, he wasn't shouting at the cannon ball, but himself. He had been the one who yanked the chain. He'd been the one to hire Henry and Charlotte, knowing the dangers of it.. He had gotten Henry killed.

Throwing the ball, he saw Charlotte jump as it crashed into a lamp right next to her. Loathing filled his throat as he realized that another foot closer to the girl, it would have seriously injured her. Turning, he dropped to his knees at Henry's feet, struggling to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't contain all of them, crying quietly as he tried to figure out a way to fix this.

Above him, he heard someone cough weakly before someone, with Henry's voice, said, "Wow."

Jerking his head up, he stared in shock at the blonde teenager who was very much not dead. His first thought that he was definitely hallucinating before he looked over at Charlotte, who was definitely not upset as she should have been for seeing her best friend get hit by a cannon ball in the stomach. He demanded, "How are you talking?" Abruptly pushing himself away from the not dead teenager, he added anxiously, "And living?"

"Cause I'm fine," Henry said, trying to appear as casual as one could when he'd taken a cannon ball straight to the stomach.

Ray, however, was very much not casual as he gestured wildly, saying, "You can't be fine, you just took a cannon ball to the gut at point blank range!"

"Yeah," Henry said, nodding.

Realization struck him again, this time both relieving and angering him as he pointed a finger at the teenager, asking slowly, "Henry, did you…"

Unable to finish the words, he looked over and grabbed a drill. Making sure it worked, he jammed it against the blonde's side, watching in disbelief as it didn't hurt him. Once he'd stopped the drill, he yanked up the teenager's hoodie, seeing no injuries on his stomach from where he'd just jammed a moving drill against.

Henry said pointedly, "Ow."

Filled with anger, at himself and at the _stupid_ teenager who had decided that going through the machine was a great idea, he smacked the drill in Henry's face. The teenager fell over, giving him an incredulous look as Ray frantically checked his head for any signs of blood or injury. Looking annoyed, Henry repeated, "Ow."

"You're… You're indestructible," Ray said in disbelief. He stared at the teenager in shock, unsure if he should be happy or furious with him. On one hand, that stunt had just saved Henry's life. On the other hand, Henry had completely ignored his instructions and risked his life.

"Surprise," Henry and Charlotte both said, trying to look relaxed. Ray turned to look at Charlotte, realizing that the girl had known that her friend would be fine. Looking between the two, his eyes settled on Henry, still in disbelief that he was actually alright as Henry said, "We did it yesterday."

"And it worked?" Ray asked. As the full realization began to finally dawn on him, he stammered, "That's amazing! And no side effects?"

Henry's response was a noise that told him there were definitely side effects. He looked over at Charlotte, who had the same response as her best friend. Ray, unsure, looked at his teenage sidekick again. Charlotte and Henry both began babbling on about something about laughing and fire while Ray found himself still processing everything that had just happened.

 _Henry got hit by a cannonball. Henry survived being hit by a cannon ball. Henry is indestructible._ His mind immediately turned to the most important thing, _realizing, Henry's alright._ Whatever side effect Henry had, they could deal with. Right then, he only cared about the fact that the kid was okay. He cut Henry's babbling off by dragging the blonde into a hug. Against his chest, Henry protested, "Ray, what are you doing?"

"Don't _ever_ do that again," he warned as he pulled back to look at the teenager in the face. Turning, he pointed at Charlotte, adding, "You, too. Just… Next time, don't stand in front of a cannon. Now let's go see if Schwoz can fix the side effect."

"Schwoz!" Ray yelled, deciding to turn his anger on the annoying inventor. He could fully process everything lately, when Henry could laugh without breathing fire. Then he could have his full freak out, meltdown breakdown. Preferably in the shower, so no one could hear the frustrated screaming at his employees that weren't there.

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 _ **Author's Note:**_ This is actually my first Henry Danger fic and the first fic I've written with the intention of posting for quite a while. It's also the first fic I've ever actually waited and edited like a traditional writing process, lol. I'm not sure if I'll write another fic for Henry Danger anytime soon, but I would still love some feedback from y'all. Please drop a review below!


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